The Full Cophine Story
by Dontaskwho
Summary: From the first day at DYAD, till the last, Cophine forever.
1. Chapter 1

The first day at a new job is always a little scary, but Cosima sat in the elevator at the DYAD institute practically shaking in her dreads. She had worked her whole life for the opportunity to work in a legitimate lab like this one, but reality was a little bigger than her dreams. She had been greeted at the doors by two armed guards, and all but dragged from there. Even without all that, her nerves had been on end recently because of her health and the danger her sisters were in.

Cosima was torn from her thoughts, the only privacy she felt she had left, when the doors slid open and she was prodded out. At this point she was ready to turn and go home, but the only place with the tools to help her and her sisters get back to being normal people was DYAD. She willed herself to step out of the elevator. Right, left, right, left.

The place reminded her of a hospital; the walls were white and the floor. A weird smell of cleaner and chemicals lingered. Those guards still followed her, shadowing her ever move, prodding her in the right direction. When they arrived at what she assumed to be her new lab, one of the big burly men pushed her shoulder.

"You were given a key card. Wave it in front of this sensor and it will open the door and every other door you are allowed to have access to." He growled. That was all the direction she was given before she was left alone, standing mouth agape with her future behind a big metal sliding door.

"Here goes." She whispered.

The sensor flashed a few colors and beeped, then the doors slid open, releasing the floodgates. The room was the same as the rest of the facility with the whiteness and the smell. The only other color added to the scheme was the chrome of the tables and machines. She felt very out of lace wearing a bright purple against it all. As soon as she was in, she dropped her bag on the floor and took a huge look around the room.

It was the most stunning sight she had ever seen. The technology alone in that room held more knowledge than she could ever dream of. The things she could discover here were infinite. Beyond the computers were the minds that she could share the most scholarly conversation. This place would be where she found the cure.

"Cosima? Right? Scott. We're supposed to be partners." A man with glasses and a tacky bowl haircut said. He was fidgety and nervous looking with a perpetual red tint to his face, but he was smart. The only way to work here was to be the best at something. They had to want you.

"Yeah, I'm Cosima. This place is...wicked." She drew out every word in awe.

"Yeah it's a little bit of a lot." He looked around, "But hey, let's get you settled in."

He took her around and narrated the tour. The microscope lab, and the super computers. All sorts of amazing things. When the technology was over with, he showed her the workstations. Mostly just big stainless steel tables with basic tools for calculations. Other scientists were at the other tables with stacks of papers and frazzled looks, making Cosima hopeful.

"So, where should I start? I can pretty much do anything, but I'm the best at running DNA samples or organism developments." She said, waving her hands exuberantly.

"You can start with whatever you want. I think you can pretty much do whatever you want, as long as it has to do with finding the cure." He said. He looked like he was sinking lower than her, like he was less important.

A few hours later Cosima had as many stacks, if not more, as everyone else, and looked just as frazzled. Never before had she had the access to the types of equipment that would allow her to do this much work. The glucose and nucleic acids were laid around her trying to explain her buildup, but not making any sense. In her frustrations she threw a stack of papers off the edge of the table, acquiring a look of fear from Scott and interest from the other workers around her.

"I'm a mess, man. What even am I?" She said with her head in her hands.

"Ma'cherie? I think you dropped this." A voice said, laced with a deep French accent. Cosima looked up at the brown-yellow eyes of an angel. She held the thrown papers out to Cosima with a crooked smile. "The first day is the hardest, you will get better, yes?"

"Uh...Yeah." She said. Her eyes couldn't leave the grasp of the French girls' as she played with one of her dread locks.

"Delphine." She said, gesturing towards herself and holding out a hand.

"Cosima." She replied, and shook it.


	2. Chapter 2

Day two on a job can be whatever you make it. It can be full of promise; be that day that you finally fit in. At the same time it can be the worst. It can be the day you decide you hate the job, but you can't quit. This was judgement day for Cosima as she rode up in the elevator, unguarded this time, to the day that would define all future days.

She almost didn't expect the card to open the door, but it did. This was real. Instead of acting like the new girl today, Cosima went right to her work station and got to work. There were only a few other people in the lab as it was early in the morning, so she had time to get warmed up to the work ahead of her.

Scott came in soon after her, and they shared a welcome. Short, nervous, but a greeting none the less.

Time got lost in the numbers of her cells. Before she knew it, the clock struck noon and most of the lab had cleared for a lunch break. She was so furiously scrawling that a sweat was threatening. She was so furiously focused that she didn't notice Delphine approach.

"Do you have something against taking a lunch break?" She said with a joking smile. Cosima looked up in a trance of all the science. She was soon very focused on a new subject.

"What? No, I mean it's just that the gene strings of the sample subject is only a half match to a clone of itself raised in a varied environment." She said. Although the problem had troubled her all morning, the work in science made her smile genuinely.

"Well then, madam, think about it over a sub? My treat." Cosima was a little surprised at the invitation, but wasted no time in accepting.

Delphine took her to a run down looking shop around the corner from the institute, where she ordered and paid for both of the girls' lunches. They sat in a window booth in a silence that wasn't awkward.

Cosima put a finger to her lips as she chewed and nodded, letting Delphine know she had something to say. At the sight, Delphine let a little chuckle.

"Yes?" She said.

"Mmm. Okay. So." She said, finally swallowing, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Being new isn't fun. I remember being new at DYAD. Better yet, I remember being new to this country. So many things and people. Nobody helped me and it was hard. Being nice is easy, so why not?" Cosima nodded in understanding but her heart sunk a little. some part of her had wanted this beautiful French girl to say that she wanted to get Cosima's attention, that she was intrigued by her.

"Got it."

"Not what you wanted to hear?" She said. Cosima noticed how she pronounced that t's and c's in her speech. It was adorable.

"I wasn't hoping to hear anything. Just curious." She said and bit her tongue, smiling. Her head tilted to one side and she twirled her hair, a nervous habit.

Delphine raised an eyebrow but didn't press. Cosima was grateful to all of the science God's that she didn't pursue the subject. She had admitted to herself and everyone else that she was a lesbian years ago, but it had prevented her from having genuine girl-friends. They all seemed weirded out by it, or she fell for them, or they fell for her. She was hoping to keep that particular detail about herself tucked away until she wasn't the new girl anymore, or at least until she had some good friends that she could rely on. It was too early in the game for her to be isolating herself without a float.

"We can go back now if you want." Delphine offered. It was the last thing Cosima wanted, but it was better not to be late back to work on her second day.

They stepped into the elevator and both girls reached for the floor button. The tips of their fingers touched making a hot rush flood onto Cosima's face. She jerked her hand back and stared at the ground. "Sorry." She mumbled. Delpine stood silent for a moment as the elevator took off, then she very intentionally pressed the same finger into Cosima's without looking at her.

"Me too."


	3. Chapter 3

After day three at DYAD, Cosima needed a glass of wine. She probably needed more than that, but she settled for a merlot and the evening news. All day she slaved over research that didn't make any sense and work that never seemed to end. It didn't help that the beautiful French girl, Delphine, was at a work station directly in her line of sight.

Cosima sighed heavily. It would never work with Delphine. Straight girls don't do anything but break hearts after bad sex. She sipped the wine, but she had lost her taste. None of it really mattered. There was no avoiding death and other than her sisters there was nothing to really fight this hard every day for.

Even the news was depressing. Death, fire, car accidents...

Cosima had not held a steady relationship with another person for longer then a month in her life. Now that she discovered sisters, she had family, and relationships. She would feel bad about giving up on them, dying, and potentially killing one of them by not finding the cure.

She told herself it was just the long day talking, that once the stress of the new job let up, she would be back to her old self again. Eager beaver to get to work. She downed the rest of the wine in one swig and shut off the TV. When she lay in bed, she found it hard to sleep. As much as she hated it, Cosima couldn't stop thinking about Delphine.

The next day, Cosima found herself in the library looking though old records when a familiar mess of bouncy gold curls appeared in the isle in front of her. She almost couldn't believe it, that Delphine could have found her way to this deserted section of the library, but a warmness building in her chest clouded her reason. She was just so happy to see her.

Cosima walked as slowly as she could behind Delphine and covered her eyes with her hands. Immediately she felt delphine's hands cover her own. They were cold, and soft. Cosima wanted nothing more than to feel them forever.

"Guess who." She whispered through her shakes.

"Ahh, Co-sima?"

Cosima removed her hands and smiled like a child. "Yes." She replied.

"What are you doing in this section? It is very old."

"Oh you know, just geek stuff."

"Nobody ever comes here." Delphine whispered. If Cosima didn't know any better she would say that there was a fire burning behind her eyes.

"Yeah, I was, super surprised to see you." It seemed to Cosima like Delphines lips were moving closer to her own, but maybe she was just disoriented. She had quite a reputation of getting light headed around beautiful women.

"Me too."

Cosima's back was against a bookshelf. Her index finger was playing with a bent cover of an old paperback. Delphines eyes were as clear and as golden as honey.

"I was about to go to the lab."

The smell of Delphine's breath overwhelmed her.

"Me too."

Cosima lunged across the isle and pressed her lips against Delphine's. The other woman's eyes were wide, and she could hardly move her lips to kiss back in the state of shock Cosima had put her in. Cosima backed away and saw Delpine's hands raised.

"Oh, wow, I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." Cosima said and she really didn't. Delphine had not been pursuing her, they were just talking and she lost her control.

"It's okay." She stumbled. Delphine felt for her bag and was gone before Cosima could explain.


	4. Chapter 4

Cosima paced around her apartment enough that a track could have formed. She cursed, cried, denied, bargained, and finally accepted what she had done. She didn't understand it; Cosima was not one to act irrationally. She had always been able to control her desires and attractions in the past, so why was it different now?

Several times she picked up her phone and dialed Delphine's number, but decided against it. Space. Space is what they needed. Right? No, call her.

No, don't call her, that would be weird. But she didn't say she didn't want it. Maybe just call her once and talk about it.

It's not even that big a deal. Just quit worrying.

Her mind split in two, and the sides were battling. It was more a struggle than anything she had ever faced. Give her an impossible equation and she would solve it with a smile, but this...was something else entirely. It wasn't as if this was her first crush, or tough romantical situation, but it felt the strongest.

She was angry that she had let herself feel like this about a straight girl, and even angrier that she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't reconcile with her and she couldn't decide her feelings.

Fuck.

The only thing she actually knew was that work was about to get weird. Even this discovery wasn't made until it was too late. The lab door had already opened and they had made eye contact.

 _Great,_ she thought, _she's gonna be that girl._

Delphine immediately looked down from Cosima, a blush growing in her cheeks. Whule the kiss had lingered in Cosima's head for one reason, it had done the same with Delphine for quite another. She had been up late into the night thinking about the feel of Cosima's desperate lips against her own. It felt as though she had needed the taste of them like she needed air.

Delphine had been in many relationships. She had known passion and adoration and love, but no words could describe the way Cosima had made her feel. This feeling was rejected at first, but even the fact that the feelings were for another woman cold not make them go away. She urned to feel it again; to lose her breath in a heat so intense it burned through her chest.

Neither woman had any idea how the other felt. Cosima thinking she had been rejected, avoided contact with Delphine; Delphine trying to cope with her feelings, kept to herself.

It was getting late, and the lab was clearing out, except Cosima. She was deep in her work until after the last companion left. It was almost 10 o'clock before she gathered her things and shut off the lights.

Her knee high boots clicked down the deserted hall. She heaved her bag back into place on her shoulder and waited for the elevator. She had gotten too tired to think of anything besides the feel of her bed. The tormenting string of awkward scenarios had gone to bed. She reached the ground floor and made her way to the parking lot. Her car flashed its lights when she clicked the button to unlock the doors, but as she entered she noticed a figure leaning on the front of the car next to her.

Delphine.


	5. Chapter 5

She wondered weather to get out of the car and address her or pretend she hadn't noticed and drive away. The keys were already in the ignition. They swayed back and forth, begging to be turned; to feel the power of the engine. Cosima's hands gripped the steering wheel hard enough to turn her knuckles white.

"Co-sima?" Delphine asked as though through tears. The parking lot was dead silent, and empty besides the two girls' car's. Cosima heard the emotion in her voice through the shell of her car.

Cosima sighed and rolled her head onto the steering wheel of her car. She left the keys dangling there, disappointed. The garage lights buzzed, straining to keep themselves on, dimly. She set one foot out of the car, and then another. Every movement was choppy and purposeful.

The two women stood, each leaning against their respective cars, staring at the concrete floor below them. Cosima cursed herself for putting herself in this situation. She was already battling exhaustion physically, and this was taking its toll on her emotional strength as well.

Delphine was blushing so hard a sweat was forming. She was embarrassed for making such a big deal out of such a small gesture, and for waiting for Cosima. She felt stupid standing there; like everything she was wearing was dumb. Her very breath was juvenile

"I'm sorry..." Cosima whispered. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. I can't just make assumptions, like especially when I don't know you. Please..."

"No, no." Delphine rushed to embrace her. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't be feeling like this."

"I was so stupid. You're straight!"

Delphine let out a breath, and closed her eyes. There was a warmth in the hug they shared. She reeled back, and squeezed her eyes before opening them to speak, knowing that the first image she saw would change her life.

Cosima stood before her, twirling a dread of hair.

"I didn't think I would like it..." Delphine admitted. Her words surprised Cosima. Did the French girl just say that she was attracted to her?

"You've never kissed a girl before?"

She shook her head, embarrassed.

Cosima smiled at her lovingly, proud that her first lesbian kiss had been a good one by her.

"Maybe we could do it again sometime?" Delphine said in a voice so quiet it was in question if it was real.

Every part of Cosima knew that falling for a straight girl never ended well. They screamed at her to say no. Her emotions were not a play thing. That no matter how hard she told herself that she wouldn't fall in love with her, she would.

"Maybe." She signed her death warrent.


	6. Chapter 6

Delphine made her way to Cosima's apartment. For the past few days, the two had spent an embarrassing amount of time with each other. They went to see a movie, lay in bed just talking, and walked around the park near DYAD. It seemed like they would run out of things to talk about, but they never did. Cosima told stories of her childhood, carefully avoiding the bit about being a clone, and opened up to Delphine in a way that surprised herself. She had always been a closed off person, but all of her walls fell down around Delphine.  
Cosima waited not-so-patiently for her visitor to arrive. She had spent all day cooking a chicken dinner, and picked out the perfect wine for the evening. She wasn't the girl that would look for sex after however many dates, she just wanted to impress her new friend. She tried over and over to tell herself that she wasn't romantically interested; the trouble she was going to was purely friendship.  
Delphine stood on the other side of the door that Cosima was staring a hole through. Although there was a big wooden board in-between them, there was a mutual nervous gaze in the same direction.  
Tap.  
Tap.  
Tap.  
Cosima sprang from her seat, but hesitated at the door anyway. She ruffled her hair, adjusted her clothes, and did a swift once-over through the mirror across the hall. With a final exhale, she opened the door with a well-rehearsed smile.  
Delphine heard her heels click to the door and then silence. She waited anxiously, wondering. The tumblers in the knob turned painfully slowly. The door squeaked quietly, and the smell of marijuana leaked out, soothing Delphine's nerves with the now-familiar scent.  
"Bonjour." She cooed. There must have been a chemical change in both women when they saw the other, because neither of them could help but be high on their presence.  
Cosima tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and blushed slightly. She loved it when Delphine spoke her native tongue.  
"Hey…" She gestured for her to enter.  
They sat and ate the delicious meal Cosima had prepared. They laughed until they cried and they cried until they laughed.  
A few hours later they found themselves on the couch, leaving the mess carelessly in the kitchen, with Cosima's arm around Delphine's shoulders watching a show that neither of them were actually interested in. Cosima's fingers lazily traced up and down the other girl's arm leaving goosebumps in their wake.  
Never had either of them felt so content just being still and quiet with another person. They couldn't get close enough. A tightness built in Cosima's throat, not of sadness, but of absolute, undeniable love.  
Delphine looked up to Cosima with a nervous smile. In all the time they spent together neither had acted upon "maybe" of next time. The mood could not be more perfect, and they were both dying to feel the other as they had before.  
Cosima did not move in. She looked back at Delphine with a smile and as soon as the urge struck, she looked away. Rule number one was never to act on those desires with a straight woman. Delphine did not know the rule. She reached to stroke Cosima's cheek, mesmerized with ever knoll and valley contouring her face.  
"J'taime."  
Cosima knew what that one meant. Delphine pushed up and kissed Cosima with all the passion she had done to her before. The fact that she was kissing a woman slipped from her mind. She had never had such intimacy with another human being; male or female.  
Cosima couldn't stop herself from acting upon the heat that had been building in her since she had first met this woman. She immediately took command of the situation. If she was going to play, it was going to be by her terms. She lifted one of her legs over the both of Delphine's and placed a firm hand on each side of her head.  
Delphine's hands found their way to the small of her back; stroking, clawing, loving. Shirts were thrown around the room, then the rest, and the heat of the night beat them both.


End file.
